Chapter 7
Previous Chapter "This is Narsen, he's working here temporarily for the next week due to the Sarel Branch incident, you two should show him around. He'll be staying for a while so don't bite." Thresa and Leoth quickly looked over him before replying, "Nice to meet you, I'm Thresa and this is my brother Leoth." "I'm old enough to introduce myself you know." "I wouldn't consider saying just your name an introduction Lethy." "Okay, I'll make sure to use two words next time." "Oh sorry, Narsen was it? We're always like this, so I hope we didn't weird you out." Narsen looked between the two of them, slightly confused before quickly reforming his expression into a smile. His eye's gleamed with interest as he responded "Oh don't worry, I thought you two were rather funny, it was a good change of pace compared to the rock-headed old men of Sarel. As the chief said before, I'm Narsen, pleased to meet you." "Well I have a meeting, so I'll let you two show him around now bye kids" said Leoth's father, signaling his exit. "Bye." "..." After their dad left the room, Narsen commented, "Well, that was awkward, I'm guessing you don't have the best relationship with your dad. Did he do something to you two?" "Well he hasn't mistreated us," responded Thresa. "Oh? Well if you don't want to tell me, I won't pry any further. However, I'd be delighted if you guys told me about yourselves over tea sometime," suggested Narsen with a twinkle. "Aw, how sly of you to ask me out to a date so quickly." "What are you talking about? I invited the two of you!" "If you're worth half the attention 'dad' gave you, I'm sure your smart enough to come to the conclusion that I don't give a rats ass about other people. Then you'd assume that I wouldn't come and it'd just be the two of you, so cute. You're not nearly as good as you think you are," refuted Leoth. To the two siblings, something of this level was obvious. "That being said, nice try, but you'll have to try harder," replied Thresa. Her early friendliness was nowhere to be seen, Narsen's standing had plummeted due to his sugarcoated words. Thresa and Leoth proceeded to walk off as Thresa continued, "You should follow if you still want to be shown around," leaving Narsen behind as they walked. The amazed Narsen quickly regained his composure and quickly followed them with a simple "Coming!" His fox-like mind raced as he started to think and his face made a slight grin as he followed behind. ... KNOCK KNOCK! Leoth bolted up, already awake. It wasn't uncommon to be waken up early, there were always problems that waited for no one. He walked over and opened his door to find his colleague Tereve waiting for him. Tereve was around even before Leoth and Thresa were despite being the same age group. A few years back, he was widely regarded as the most diligent and focused person within the company with unwavering desire to further the company's goals. But he slowly became less and less active and is now currently a sort of ghost member that does work as he pleases. He hasn't been kicked out yet because of his past contributions, but most of his colleagues hold him in disdain for his declining motivation. Leoth included. "What happened?" Leoth coldly asked. At one time the two of them had been rivals and friends due to their like minded focus on the company's goals, but that had long changed. "The top dog wants his puppy to be at his door in 10 minutes, apparently it's something urgent." "And he sent you of all people to relay the message?" It didn't make sense to send Tereve to relay the message given his empty tank of motivation. It seemed more likely that Tereve was pranking for fun. "Why not? Who better than the least motivated person around?" "Well I donno, maybe ANYONE else?" "Aw, that hurts~ Well you had better go see what your pops wants, I don't wanna be the reason you're late," Tereve responded before going off on his merry way. Leoth stood there momentarily dazed by the incomprehensible messenger, before quickly leaving his room to see his dad. ... As Leoth approached his dad's office, his realized something was seriously wrong. His dad was waiting for him outside his office rather than waiting at his desk. This had never happened ever since Leoth had been adopted so something was definitely going on. On top of that his right hand was heavily wounded by the looks of the blood soaked bandages. 'An assassin perhaps?' thought Leoth as he quickly crossed out unlikely scenario's in his mind. "What happened?" "Leoth, before I tell you, I have to ask you something." "What?" "What would you do if there was a traitor within our ranks? If your closest friend turned out to be against the organization and tried dismantle it from the top down?" Huh, looks like it was an assassin. "We'd have to take them out of course. Isn't that a given?" "Of course. I just had to make sure. I'll tell you what happened now, follow me inside." Leoth's father opened the door and went in. Leoth, though slightly bewilded by the odd questions, followed his father inside. As he entered the room, his mind gradually started to piece the situation together. And then- his world broke. There, pinned to the wall by three short swords, was a person, or what was left of them. Thresa's corpse, hung from the wall with two swords in the arms, and one in the heart. Her blood had left a large pool of blood that slowly seeped across the floor and touched the edges of Leoth's shoes. "She betrayed us. I can't say I'm too surprised given her discontent with our methods. It's a shame that her skills went to waste but I know you're just a skilled as she." Leoth opened his mouth, and yet no words left his mouth. He slowly turned to look at his father, no, the man who had adopted him and his sister. And he saw nothing. Nothing was left. Nothing wasn't quite accurate given that the man still stood there waiting for Leoth's reaction, but for Leoth, the jar of the world had been robbed and emptied. Leoth shook from the shock and didn't respond. "Damn another failure, what a waste of talent. It was quite the gamble when I adopted the two of you, so it can't be helped. Regardless, what a pity," sighed Thresa's killer as he formed another metallic sword from his hands and walked towards Leoth. As he approached, Leoth slowly pulled himself together. Correction, he tried to pull himself together. And failed. He grabbed the sides of his arms and his eyes unfocused on the world. And then- He screamed. And as he did so, Thresa's killer pulled back his blade and lunged straight towards Leoth's heart. But at the same time two bright white wings ripped out of Leoth's back. They were formless yet their brilliance seemed to seep into the very fiber of the world. And then they one of them moved and sliced straight through the metallic sword like butter and split Thresa's killer in half and left a gash right through the wall and melted a hole through the glass. Within a few moments, Leoth registered what had happened and as he saw the two corpses, his heart threatened to split like the room. And then the wings crystallized. Their formless identity solidified into two crystalline wings that grew out of the skin on Leoth's back. "Amazing. Simply amazing. I never woulda thought that you of all people who reveal such a spectacular power." Leoth turned his head towards the source of the voice where he found Tereve leaning on the door frame with his side. "You. What are you doing here." "Oh me? I just thought you would like to have this before you start running from our little organization" replied Tereve as he threw an object to Leoth. It was a picture frame that landed on the ground in from of Leoth, the glass had cracked from the landing. The picture held the two siblings back when it was only the two of them. Leoth slowly reached down, and with his shaking hands picked up the picture frame, cutting his fingers on the glass. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, but..." Tereve pulled back his leg from across the room and BAM! performed a roundhouse kick from the space where Leoth had been before he slammed into the wall. "I'm a hunter~," he smiled. Leoth slowly got up, and slashed his wings at Tereve, but they swept nothing but air as Tereve appeared at the door entrance again. Then he appeared in from of Leoth again and smashed him in the face with his fist before appearing back to his original position. Leoth then wrapped himself up with his wings and emitted a huge flash, removing sight from the room. Under the guise of the flash, he picked up his sister's body and lept through the window into the streets below. "Damn those wings are sweet. Guess I better be more serious about my job," said Tereve to himself. He proceeded to pull out a revolver and fired. And then he stood there waiting in the streets for Leoth to land. Next Chapter